Stuart Johnson

Stuart Johnson

Biography

Stuart Johnson (b. 1936, Staffordshire, Great Britain) is a British composer and conductor.

Mr. Johnson served in the band of the Kings Dragoons Guards and then trained as a teacher. He has a wide experience in music education, as a teacher, lecturer and Music Advisor. Following a period as a lecturer at Northumberland College of Education he became Music Adviser to the Metropolitan District of Sandwell prior to his appointment to Staffordshire, the county for which he was director of music until his retirement in 1997. He has long experience as a conductor, particularly in the choral and band fields and also wide experience as an adjudicator and examiner.

Stuart Johnson is one of Britain's leading educational writers for bands. He has achieved great success with his Band Book series for brass, but he also has the distinction of writing more advanced works, such as Sinfonietta for wind band, which enjoy equal acclaim.

He has written prolifically for bands and orchestras, and his didactic publications are used in many countries. All his pieces are carefully tried at school level before publication, and he is widely regarded as an authority in his field. He has over 80 published compositions and arrangements, many of which have been broadcast on radio or television. In recent years Mr. Johnson has produced a substantial amount of new music for wind band, mostly to commission, including his hugely successful Circus Suite, and a series of 'Bandstand' pieces (Bandstand Boogie, Beguine, Ragtime, etc.). Johnson has recently completed several commissions, funded by National Lottery grants, for bands in Cumbria, the Isle of Wight, and Staffordshire.

Mr. Johnson has written extensively for the theatre, as well, his music ranging in style from the evocative and demanding. He has also written for orchestra.

Works for Winds

• Bandstand Beguine
• Bandstand Blues
• Bandstand Boogie
• Bandstand Ragtime
• Blues on the Slide
• Celebration Prelude
• Circus Suite
• Cradle Song and A Soldiers March
• Dances Time Suite
• Fairground Suite
• Flute Sundae
• Flyaway Blues
• The Golden West Suite
• In a Summer Garden
• Jamaican Rock
• Little Brown Jug
• Londonderry Air
• Percussion Perspectives
• Rhapsody on a English Sea Song
• Rondo March
• Round the Horn
• Scenes from a Royal Tapestry (1986)
• Sinfonietta
• Songs of the North
• Spirit of Adventure Overture
• A Staffordshire Festival Overture
• Symphonic Variations
• The John B Tango
• Theme from Emperor Waltz (as arranger)
• Toccata
• Trumpet Classics
• Viva la France
• Wessex Dances

Resources

• "Johnson." Brasswind Publications. Web. Accessed 3 July 2021